Health and Disease: Year In Review 2002

Bioterrorism preparedness became a national priority in many countries in 2002 in the wake of the previous year’s September 11 terrorist attacks and subsequent anthrax mailings in the U.S. The possibility that terrorists would use deadly pathogens as weapons underscored the need for new drugs to treat and prevent infectious diseases. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America reported in April that more than 100 companies, predominantly American firms, were developing 256 such medicines, which included vaccines, antibiotics, and antiviral agents. At the same time, the pharmaceutical industry was identifying existing antibiotics that could be used to counter bacterial agents, among them anthrax, tularemia, and plague, if they were used as weapons.

By far the major focus of bioterrorism planning was on smallpox, which was eradicated from the planet in 1980 and for which routine vaccination in the U.S. ceased in 1972. Only two high-security laboratories—at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Ga., and the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology, Koltsovo, Russia—were known to have live samples of the smallpox virus. Government security officials, however, had good reason to suspect that clandestine samples could be in the hands of potential terrorists.

In late October the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensed the use of the U.S. government’s 30-year-old stockpile of smallpox vaccine—15.4 million doses. The government also possessed 75 million doses that the French vaccine maker Aventis Pasteur discovered in its storage facilities during the year, and it ordered a further 209 million new doses from the British company Acambis, to be prepared by means of modern cell-culture techniques.

Securing an ample vaccine supply to protect the entire U.S. population proved easier than determining who should be vaccinated, especially because smallpox vaccine has significant risks. For every million persons vaccinated, hundreds would be likely to develop severe rashes or other non-life-threatening illnesses, 15 would likely have life-threatening complications, and 1 or 2 would die. Furthermore, for every million receiving the vaccine, the live vaccinia virus from which the vaccine is made could spread by contact to as many as 27 others who had not been vaccinated and who then would be at risk for various adverse effects. Because of these risks a federal advisory panel on immunizations specified that certain groups should not be vaccinated against smallpox. They included people with current or past eczema, atopic dermatitis, or similar skin diseases, as well as people living with someone who has such a skin disease; people with HIV; people with impaired immunity; pregnant women; and women trying to become pregnant.

On December 13 U.S. Pres. George Bush announced his long-awaited smallpox-vaccination plan. Its first phase called for about 500,000 military and other personnel serving in high-risk areas to be immunized immediately. In addition, civilian health-care and emergency workers who would be likely to come in contact with the initial victims of a smallpox attack on the U.S. would be asked to volunteer for immunizations. Subsequently the vaccine would be offered to more traditional first responders such as fire, police, and emergency medical service personnel. At the time, Bush recommended against vaccination for the general public. (Well before the December announcement, more than 15,000 soldiers and health-care workers in Israel had received smallpox vaccine on a voluntary basis, with relatively few adverse effects.)

In July American scientists reported having successfully created a poliovirus from scratch—that is, from only its genome sequence, which was available in the public domain, and genetic material provided by a scientific mail-order supplier. J. Craig Venter, one of the geneticists instrumental in the sequencing of the human genome—an accomplishment announced in 2000—called the work, which had been financed in part by the Pentagon, “inflammatory without scientific justification” and “irresponsible.” The relative ease with which the experiment was completed led many scientists to wonder whether other, potentially more lethal viruses such as smallpox or Ebola virus could also be synthesized.

Infectious Diseases

The dreaded Ebola hemorrhagic fever, called one of the “most virulent viral diseases known to humankind,” struck Gabon in late 2001 and quickly spread to neighbouring villages in the Republic of the Congo. By March 2002 about 100 persons had been infected, and 80% of them had died. The speedy arrival of international health teams helped curtail the outbreak and undoubtedly saved many lives. In May the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) contracted with Crucell, a small Dutch biotechnology company, to develop the first human vaccine against Ebola hemorrhagic fever; the collaborators hoped to have a product ready to test in humans within two years.

An alarming rise in the number of cases of gonorrhea resistant to the first-line drugs used to treat the sexually transmitted disease (STD) was seen in California. Strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae resistant to antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones had migrated from East Asia to Hawaii and then to California. In response, the state issued new guidelines for treating gonorrhea, specifying that another drug group, cephalosporins, should replace fluoroquinolones. Late in the year two new vaccines against STD were reported to be highly effective—one against human papillomavirus type 16, which is responsible for half of all cervical cancers, and other against genital herpes (herpes simplex viruses types 1 and 2) in women. Neither vaccine would be on the market until considerable further testing was completed.

The mosquitoborne disease West Nile virus (WNV) made its fourth annual late-summer appearance in the U.S., striking with a vengeance. As of mid-December, 3,829 human cases had been reported in 39 states and the District of Columbia, with 225 deaths. The virus was found in 29 species of mosquitoes, at least 120 species of birds, and many mammals, including squirrels, dogs, horses, mules, goats, and rabbits. A number of exotic species housed in zoos had also been infected, including penguins, cormorants, and flamingos. During the year evidence emerged that WNV could be transmitted between humans via blood transfusion and organ transplantation and possibly by infected mothers to infants through breast milk.

The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases continued to sponsor research on several potential WNV vaccines, with hopes that one might be ready for trials in 2003. The FDA was developing a blood-screening process for WNV, which could be in use by mid-2003.

Following the first outbreak of WNV in the New York City area in the summer of 1999, health authorities in Canada had begun to plan for its possible arrival in that country. In the summer of 2001, WNV was confirmed in mosquitoes and birds in southern Ontario. The first human cases occurred in 2002; from August through October there were 79 probable cases and 31 confirmed cases.

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